DR. MEIKE DITTMANN

Principal Investigator

Robert-Koch Postdoctoral Prize

NIAID Pathway to Independence (K99)

Christina Fleischmann Award for Young Women Investigators

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NYU SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Assistant Professor, since 2016

The Dittmann lab is interested in the molecular mechanisms of how interferons inhibit viruses. The lab uses a combination of classical and molecular virology, cell biology, and immunology to study where individual interferon-stimulated genes block certain stages of viral lifecycles. Identifying specific steps targeted by the innate immune response can teach us about weak spots in virus life cycles, which may in turn inform novel strategies to develop antiviral drugs.

THE ROCKEFELLER UNIVERSITY

Postdoc, 2011-2016

During her postdoc in the group of Charles M. Rice, Meike established a high-content microscopy screening platform for interferon-stimulated genes (ISGs). She identified ISGs specific for glycoprotein maturation of influenza A virus, which is the latest possible step in a virus life cycle, and a novel mechanism for innate immune effectors. Another project, in collaboration with the laboratory of Sun Hur at Harvard, revealed that RIG-I and MDA5 have direct antiviral mechanisms in addition to their role as pattern recognition receptors.

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ULM UNIVERSITY HOSPITAL

Doctoral Thesis, 2007-2010

As a graduate student working in Dr. Thomas Mertens’ laboratory, Meike's main focus was the characterization of human cytomegalovirus resistance mutations. In collaboration with clinicians and bioinformaticians, she developed a web-based tool containing phenotypic information on all published human cytomegalovirus resistance mutations. The tool is now routinely used by laboratories worldwide, improving diagnostics for an individualized antiviral therapy of human cytomegalovirus infections.

HONORS

November 2015

In 2015, Meike was awarded the Robert Koch Postdoctoral Prize, which the Robert Koch Foundation in Berlin, Germany, bestows on the "best young scientists currently working in their fields in Germany or abroad”.

October 20, 2019

In 2019, Meike was awarded the Christina Fleischmann Award in Vienna, Austria. This award honors young women investigators working in the field of cytokines and interferons.